The Cellar: Sipping Wines for Spring

While I am traveling in Mexico, enjoy my thoughts on two wines that are ideal for springtime sipping. One is a Rosé, a style of wine that I am becoming increasingly fond of and a style I highly recommend you start exploring. The other is a light and fruity red wine made from the Italian varietal Schiava.

Bonny Doon Vineyard was founded in 1983 by the Grahm family. Its winery and most of the vineyards from which the winery sources grapes are located in the 325,000-acre Santa Cruz Mountain Viticultural Area

located south of the San Francisco Bay. Owner and winemaker Randall Grahm is part of a group of winemakers in California known as the ‘Rhone Rangers’, a group known their pioneering work in the popularization of Rhone and Provencal varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre, Roussanne and Marsanne.

This week’s first wine is a great example of the type of wine Donny Boon Vineyards is famous for producing—a Rosé made primarily from Grenache—sourced from Alta Loma and Alamo Creek Vineyards with Mouvedre, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, and Cincault completing the blend. This beautifully colored Rosé is downright delicious, featuring loads of slightly underripe red strawberries and white cherries, all wrapped in a light, tight frame with gripping citrus on the finish. One of my favorite 2011 Rosés so far.

After having married into one of northern Italy’s most prestigious wine estates, Winemaker Elena Walch took over the family’s two top estates Castel Ringberg and Kastelaz, with their adjoining vineyards. The Elena

Walch Estate, located in the Alto Adige wine growing region, produces a series of wines from international varietals such as Chardonnay and Merlot, as well as local varietals such as Lagrein and this week’s second featured varietal, Schiava.

Schiava is a really interesting grape varietal and one of the most widely grown red varietals in the Alto Adige wine growing region. Better known as Trollinger in South Tyrol, Schiava makes light, bright, flavorful and fragrant wines that are usually low to moderate in its acid levels. This makes them easy sippers for the spring weather we currently are experiencing. The 2010 from Elena Walch is very straightforward and delicious. If you like Gamay based wines, like Beaujolais, you should consider seeking this one out. It displays bright red berry and cherry fruits. While slightly tart, this wine is very refreshing, making it perfect for soaking up the spring sun.